Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Her ki ḥall itmek diler kevneyn içinde müşkilin
Ḳılsun ol göñlüm gibi zülfeynüñi ser-menzilin
Ḳo ḫam-ı zülfüñi ṣalsun boynuma zencīrini
Kimsene ṭutmış degüldür dōstum cömerd elin
Bir gün olam vuṣlat-ı yār ile şāyed muġtenem
Rāh-ı ‘ışḳ içre segirdürsem n’ola aç u yalın
Dün sebük-serlik ḳılup zülfüñ ṭaġıtdı göñlümi
Ṭut ki Hindūdur eliyle yile virdi ḥāṣılın
Kim ne dir ise disün ḫālüñde ol varsun Münīr
Ḫod bilürsin kimsene ṭutmış degül ilüñ dilin

In English

1. Let everyone who wishes to untie his difficulty in the two worlds (this world and the next) make your two locks of hair his dwelling place, as my heart has done.

2. Let your curling locks throw their chain around my neck; my friend, no one has ever held back the hand of a generous man (kept him from giving).

3. If, hoping that one day I may count union with the beloved as booty and attain it, I run hungry and barefoot along the road of love, is that any wonder?

4. Yesterday your locks behaved lightly and scattered my heart; suppose they are a Hindu (a dark-skinned slave): with his own hand he gave the whole harvest to the wind.

5. Whatever anyone may say, let Münîr stay in your mole (devoted to your beauty spot); you know well that no one has ever held the tongue of the people.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and thirty-second of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 232). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". In the redif list of his introduction Ersoy gives the redif (refrain word) of this ghazal as the suffix "-In". The rhyme rests on "-il / -el": müşkil, ser-menzil, el, yal(ın), ḥāṣıl and dil. The ghazal is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 153a). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

The word "yalın" (barefoot) in the third couplet is not a noun with a suffix; it joins the rhyme series because its ending resembles the redif suffix (our observation).

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The beloved's locks stand at the centre of the ghazal. In the opening couplet the verb "ḥall itmek" (to untie, to solve) suggests both solving a difficulty and untying a braid of hair; the man who seeks a remedy for the trouble of the two worlds is shown the beloved's two locks as a dwelling. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "kevneyn" as the two worlds; between "kevneyn" and "zülfeyn" (the two locks) there is both a likeness of sound and a correspondence resting on the number two.

In the second couplet the locks are a chain thrown around the neck. The lover's asking to be chained, as if it were a favour, is justified by the general statement of the second line: no one holds back the hand of a generous man. The phrasing has the air of an irsal-i mesel (a proverb-like saying). The same pattern is repeated in the couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas), where we read "kimsene ṭutmış degül ilüñ dilin". Between "el" (hand) in the second couplet and "il" (the people) in the fifth there is a pun (cinas), and between the construction of the two couplets a deliberate parallel (our observation).

In the fourth couplet the locks become "sebük-ser". The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "sebük" as light, and figuratively as frivolous, lacking gravity. The disorder of the locks scatters the lover's heart as well. The Kubbealtı records that "Hindû" was used in older literature for a mole on the face; here the dark locks are likened to a Hindu and described as one who gives his harvest to the wind, that is, squanders the fruit of labour. The word "ḥāṣıl" (crop, gain) completes the image of the threshing floor.

In the mahlas couplet the edition writes "ḫālüñde"; "ḫāl" means mole. The ear also hears in this word "ḥāl" (state), that is, the phrase "let him keep to his own state". The couplet can thus be read in two ways: let Münîr remain the captive of your mole, or, whatever anyone says, let him go his own way (our observation).

Bibliography

Online sources